Ricerc@Sapienza

Archaeobotanical remains from the Phoenician – Punic site of Motya, set in the Marsala Lagoon in Western Sicily (Italy), were collected through flotation and sieving during the excavation campaigns of 2017–2019. Analyses focused on a sacrificial favissa, on the SW side of the Temple of Cappiddazzu, dedicated to Melqart/Herakles, where the buried remains of seven bovines were also found. Plant remains, preserved mostly by mineralisation, provide information about ritual practices.

Results of archaeobotanical analyses carried out in a Renaissance pit situated in the Santi Quattro Coronati complex in Rome are presented. The study focuses on carpological remains, preserved through mummification by desiccation. The complex, first attest- ed in 499 AD, underwent a long series of transformations and ad- ditions over the course of the centuries. In the 13th century it was divided between a monastery filiated with the Umbrian Abbey of Sassovivo and a vast palace, meant to host the cardinals.

The archaeobotanical analyses carried out at the archaeological site of Motya (Sicily, Italy), a small island found in the Marsala Lagoon, in Western Sicily (Italy), are presented. Although the Phoenician-Punic period (late 8th century BC – 397 BC) represents the main occupational phase of the archaeological settlement, the island was occupied by indigenous populations since the 17th century BC and continued to be inhabited after the Siege of Motya (397/6 BC).